OTTAWA — Montreal engineering firm SNC-Lavalin won’t be able to bid on Canadian foreign aid projects after the World Bank slapped it with sanctions last week over allegations of bribing officials in Bangladesh.

“Firms or individuals who have been sanctioned by a development organization, including the World Bank, for engaging in corrupt or fraudulent practices, will be ineligible to bid on CIDA-funded projects,” Canadian International Development Agency spokeswoman Amy Mills said in a statement Thursday.

SNC-Lavalin Inc. and many of its affiliates agreed to a 10-year ban from bidding on World Bank projects following an investigation into allegations of bribery involving a $50-million bridge-building contract in Bangladesh.

It was the longest debarment a company had ever agreed to with the multilateral organization, though the time could be reduced to eight years if the company complies with World Bank requirements.

The World Bank investigation was separate from an ongoing RCMP probe of the company’s overseas activities, which involve alleged kickbacks to foreign officials such as Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s son.

SNC Lavalin has led several multimillion-dollar Canadian aid projects over the years, most notably the $50-million rehabilitation of a dam in Afghanistan that was plagued with problems.

It is also currently working on a $14-million agriculture project in Mali, a $15-million environmental project in Vietnam and a $20-million environmental project in Indonesia.

While disqualified from bidding on CIDA projects as long as the World Bank sanctions are in place, it is unclear what will happen to the CIDA projects SNC Lavalin is already working on.

In a statement released by his office Thursday, CIDA Minister Julian Fantino said he had ordered officials to check with the World Bank to see what implications the 10-year ban could have on Canadian aid projects currently being implemented.

“This is specifically to ensure they continue to comply with the Government of Canada’s standards on accountability, transparency and ethics,” the statement added.

SNC-Lavalin was not available for comment Thursday.

However, the company said in a statement after the World Bank ban was announced that it was working with the multilateral organization to ensure compliance with international anti-corruption and anti-fraud practices.

It also noted that the ban did not apply to all of its affiliates, which will still be eligible to bid on World Bank-funded projects.

It was unclear whether CIDA’s policies apply to only SNC-Lavalin and those affiliates sanctioned by the World Bank, or the entire SNC-Lavalin Group.

Canada’s largest engineering and construction firm, SNC-Lavalin has had a major international presence for decades.

However, its reputation has taken a hit in recent years following several investigations into its activities abroad.

Former SNC officials Ramesh Shah and Mohammed Ismail have been charged by the RCMP in connection with an alleged conspiracy to bribe Bangladeshi officials as part of a $50-million contract to manage construction of a massive bridge in the South Asian country.

The World Bank had committed a total of $1.2 billion towards the $3-billion Padma Bridge project, which has since fallen apart as a result of the bribery allegations.

The charges against Shah and Ismail have not been proven in court.

The RCMP also alleged in a sworn affidavit last year that an SNC-Lavalin vice-president paid $160 million in kickbacks to Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s son for steering major contracts in Libya to SNC-Lavalin.

The vice-president, Riadh Ben Aissa, and another officials were forced out of the company last year after an internal audit uncovered $56 million in payments to recipients who could not be traced.

Ben Aissa has been detained in Switzerland since April 2012 on suspicion of bribery.

The World Bank has also raised concerns about an SNC-Lavalin project in Cambodia, while former SNC-Lavalin CEO Pierre Duhaime, the former head of Canada’s spy watchdog, Arthur Porter, and several other people have been charged on allegations of conspiring to defraud Montreal’s McGill University Health Centre of $22.5 million.

— with files from Stewart Bell, the National Post, and Graeme Hamilton, the National Post